According To Dante
by Setkia
Summary: 'It already has.' Lily turned to him, confused. 'What' 'It's frozen. Hell, that is.' James said. 'At least, according to Dante. So you know, technically, you need to go out with me.'


_Author's Note: Please review and favorite! My first ever **Harry Potter** fanfic! No flames! I love James & Lily. This was inspired by reading **The Infernal Devices,** a line was: "Hell is cold," which was a reference to a book called **The Divine Comedy,** better known as **Dante's Inferno** so I took it out from school and read it and typically, I don't really like poetry, but this was amazing, written in the 1200s, anyway, the book was great and I understood why Hell is cold. If this offends your religion, I didn't mean to because **Dante's Inferno**'s really tied to Christianity. Anyway, put Dante and Lily's response of: 'I'LL GO OUT WITH YOU WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER!' Gave me this idea. I don't own **Harry Potter**. Please review! I beg in the most non-pathetic way possible._

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According To Dante

**'It already has.'**

**Lily turned to him, confused. 'What?'**

**'It's frozen. Hell, that is,' James said. 'At least, according to Dante. So you know, technically, you need to go out with me.'**

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_'I'LL GO OUT WITH YOU WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER!'_

Her words resonated throughout the Great Hall almost as loud as his confession of love had been. Her fiery red hair stuck to her face as her chest heaved, her emerald-green eyes livid as the binocular boy stared at her wordlessly, his shoulders slumping slightly at her outright objection but it was gone within seconds and she was sure she had imagined it. He smirked at her with his famous lopsided grin.

'You know you love me Evans,' he told her, grinning broadly while his heart sank in his chest, but he refused to let it show. After a year of rejection, he was used to it by now and was an expert at disguising his displeasure.

Those who were in fourth year had become used to the shouting matches between the feisty, bookworm Lily Evans and the charming Marauder, James Potter. This was just another day in the life for them so they remained unfazed as the messy haired boy sat back down after having stood up on the bench at the Gryffindor table and continued to eat his breakfast as though nothing had changed but his best friend, Remus Lupin could see the slightly dimmer light in his eyes, his slightly forced laughter.

On March 27th, James' birthday, Remus bought him a book. James looked at it with joy, even though he didn't read any book other than _Quidditch Through The Ages_ and Remus told him that it was worth the read.

'You always say that,' James whined, thankful for the thought Remus had put into the gift, trying to find a book James would like, but he highly doubted he would be interested. Remus told him it was a book of poetry written during the Roman Empire and James grinned at him, patted him on the back and told him nice try.

'You see that bookmark?' Remus said, pointing to a scarlet ribbon near the quarter-way point.

'Yeah? So?'

'Read it,' Remus said. 'At least till there. You'll laugh, I swear.'

James shrugged and promised Remus he would read it, then tossed the book into the bottom of his trunk, forgetting about it.

During June, when James was unpacking his trunk, he found a book with a red bookmark and remembered his promise to Remus. He sighed and put it next to his bed. He supposed, for a friend, he could read ten minutes a night and finish the book by August at latest.

_The Divine Comedy_, or _Dante's Inferno_ was _good_.

Remus had been right, then again, he normally was.

James read through the book the first night and was instantly hooked, reading on until the morning and his torch had long burnt out. His mother had called him down for breakfast and he had, with dreary eyes, came downstairs, the book in hand.

He read throughout breakfast, accidentally spilling Pumpkin Juice on the nice pages. He felt bad though when he got to the bookmark, he nearly fell off his chair, laughing. His mother asked him if he was okay or if he needed to see a Healer and he responded, wiping a tear from his face from his hard laughter, 'I'm fine,' and then proceeded to continue laughing, forcing his mother to question her son's sanity.

His best friend, Sirius Black came to live with him that summer.

When they got back to school, he told Remus that he was right. He had loved the book and he had read it over at least thrice since he had first opened it. The bookmark was still in place and when Remus asked him if he laughed at the lines, Sirius cut in.

'His mother thought he was under _Rictusempra_ each time he got to that part,' Sirius put in, grinning maniacally. 'What was in the book Moony?'

James showed him the passage and soon, the trio was laughing while poor Peter Pettigrew stared at his three friends, certain they had gone mad.

He planned on telling her, the first chance he got, but then O.W.L.S got in the way, as did classes, major pranks and the preparation to master their Animagi forms. They spent late nights in the library, perfecting the transformation and _The Divine Comedy_ had to rest on his nightstand, untouched.

When The Incident happened, James forgot all about the book and threw it into the depths of his trunk once more, sure that if he saw it, he would add more stress to Lily, even though really, she didn't need anything else to worry about.

Sixth year came and James and Lily developed a slow friendship. He kept his distance, though he fell more and more for her with each joke she laughed at, each time her eyes sparkled and she would smile at him, he would feel as though he had swallowed a few shots of Butterbeer, turning his insides to mush.

Now in the "friend zone" as Sirius had come to call it, James had to tuck away any feelings he had at all for the redhead beauty.

She came to his Quidditch games and he'd never admit it, but he played better when she was there. She would help him with Potions and he would help her with Transfiguration. It got to the point where he was no longer the one seeking her out, _she_ came looking for _him_.

It was during April of that year that James realised he was utterly screwed.

They were learning the Patronous Charm in class and standing there, with his wand, he listened to Lily's voice in his ears, he pictured her smile, her laughter and when she would sit next to him on the couch. The rare time he could make her blush surfaced in his mind and he whispered, '_Expecto Patronum.'_

He was screwed the second the stag bounded out of his wand and he saw a doe from across the room, prancing around Lily as she laughter, the silver animal caressing her cheek.

Seventh year came and the book was brought out from deep in his trunk. He became Head Boy and he and Lily shared a dormitory, which became challenging for him at times, so in love with a girl who would never love him.

Now when he read _The Divine Comedy_, he didn't laugh. He picked it up for a sense of nostalgia with all the horrible war going on outside, he needed something to make him smile and instead, as he read the same passage, he was not filled with joy, he was filled with a bittersweet sadness.

He smiled bittersweetly at the passage and wondered how Dante could call this book a comedy when it made him want to cry and threw it across his dorm in frustration, making Lily ask him why he was breathing so heavily. He shut his eyes and told her that he was fine. He was just tired and when he got tired, he tended to do irrational things. She accepted it and he only dared open his eyes after she was gone.

Yet her presence still lingered.

She got a boyfriend, Amos Diggory, a Hufflepuff of all people and James hated him most of all. She couldn't understand why he would speak about anything but Diggory when he was around her and how his words came out bitter. She couldn't comprehend how he would clench his fists and grit his teeth, hissing. She didn't understand until that night during patrols.

They usually spoke about many things during patrols. Barely anyone stayed out past curfew and so they would roam the halls, laughing and joking. As Lily was telling James about her day in Runes, he suddenly blurted:

'It already has.'

Lily turned to him, confused. 'What?'

'It's frozen. Hell, that is,' James said. 'At least, according to Dante. So you know, technically, you need to go out with me.'

'I'm sorry, I don't understand,' Lily said, confused.

'See, _The Divine Comedy_ is about this guy named Dante, who's technically the author, who goes on this trip with this poet named Virgil and they visit the different areas of the afterlife, so Hell, Purgatory and Paradise,' James explained. 'So Hell is split into nine circles-'

'Hell is circular?' Lily asked, slightly confused.

'It's a book,' James said with a shrug. 'Either way, the first circle of Hell was limbo, then the next seven were the Seven Deadly Sins and the last circle of Hell was a frozen lake, so technically, Hell has frozen over.' James rubbed his neck sheepishly. 'Just thought you might like to know.'

Lily's eyes widened.

James was practically asking her on a date. But he was over her, wasn't he? He was supposed to get over, live his life and she'd live with the horrible fact that she realised she loved him too late, he wasn't supposed to do a three sixty and suddenly like her again!

'And we need to go according to Dante?' Lily asked him, taking a step closer towards him.

They were standing on a staircase, halfway finished the pack of stairs when he had brought up this whole 'Dante' thing. James' back pressed against the railing and he gulped.

'Well,' he said, sounding a little squeaky from her close proximity. 'It'd be rude not to.'

'I see,' Lily said slowly. 'And what would I tell Amos?'

Reality sunk in and James felt sick. Lily was playing him. She had a boyfriend, a Hufflepuff boyfriend who James hated but knew that Lily liked very much. Because she would dump her boyfriend for the boy who had made her life a living hell?

James wasn't sure why, but with the odds against him, (not to mention Lily) he managed to say, 'Screw him.'

'I'd rather not,' Lily replied, wrapping her arms around James' neck. She leaned closer and he breathed in her bewitching scent. 'So Hell's frozen over, huh?'

'Uh huh,' James managed as she leaned closer.

'We wouldn't want to disagree with Dante, now would we?' she asked, her cool breath on his face.

'Dante's law,' James said in a husky voice.

'And we all know I'm a good girl,' Lily said.

And then she kissed him.

She pressed her hot lips against his and they moved in perfect sync, his hands gripping her hips tightly, hers running through his hair, pulling and forcing moans out of him. She pulled him closer and he let her, the only thing separating them being the unfortunate need for oxygen. That, and they were probably going to fall over the staircase.

The next morning, Amos Diggory was dumped in front of the entire Great Hall, very confused about why his girlfriend had left him. Her answer when he asked her why?

'Hell's frozen over.'

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**Edited: June 18th, 2014**


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